What I see it like: The husband, enjoying the feel of water and not minding standing waist-deep in it all the time, doesnt think the plumbing is important and prefers the plumber to install new lights in the bathroom. The wife thinks that plumbing is more important, especially as the water damage is starting to weaken the house's foundations. So the actions of the plumber, no matter what he does, cannot ever make everyone happy at the same time, especially when one of the individuals involved is a madman.

If the wife always presents basic logic to the husband like that instead of accepting her place as a submissive gender and allowing irrationality to continue unchallenged, this will only lead to friction in a regressive, respect-lacking relationship.

Just accept that some people do like these changes and feel that that's more important than paying attention to anything other than what's right in front of their face or giving other people basic respect, and that not everybody is as invested in improving experiences for anyone other than themselves.

hmmm usually i play a video game and when i get to the point that i have done all there is for me to do i give it a rest.
ya know, go out side.
hang with friends.

much healthier than calling devs names and saying its because we love your game and we want it to succeed.

i also keep seeing people leave and come back later to check it out asking whats new.

i also see people noticing that they are working on new things and slowly implementing them.

one of cory's last post said it will all be done sooner than later.

if my only interaction with the hex community was just these forums or i stopped by to check out the forums to look at the game before downloading, i wouldn't touch this game with a 10 foot pole and that would not be because of the AH or cosmic coins.

in that poll you see is 83 people so far voting not happy.
wich is completely different than "almost half of what little remains of hex" unless hex is around 180 players

also if i was one of the many trolls this game has, guess what button i'm clicking.
you do not need hex installed to vote in the poll.

its fine to ask for something better and different even a hundred times in a row.
but its hard to read and get behind someone acting like a manbaby.

at least for me.

"hang with friends", ie "I like eating cake! If drinking water doesn't work, I'll just eat more cake!" - Our appreciation for one thing doesn't necessarily inhibit our appreciation of any other thing.

"calling the devs names" - Only two people have done that that I'm aware of, and as I recall, they were both done half-jestingly. But no, everyone in this thread needs to stop attacking individuals and start focusing on constructive points. Unfortunately, you're part of the subgroup of players who seem intent on establishing a "faction" dedicated solely to targeting other players, rather than contributing more analytically-minded, constructive points.

"and saying its because we love your game" - If you don't see the correlation between constructive criticism and affection, then you must have had very neglectful parents. Just, take a moment to think it through.

"I also see people noticing that they're working on minor improvements instead of the ones that have been asked for for years" - Well, yes, that's.. that's the point of all these threads that have been steadily multiplying in number over the past couple of years..

"cory" - Hasn't proven very reliable thus far

"hex community's negativity" - Easily fixed by a single professional response by HexEnt. Don't put the outcome of providing basic consumer feedback on us- that's like the "no snitches" gang mentality; Constructive communication improves things for everyone, except for those who thrive off negative situations.
Also, every OTHER review/interaction point for Hex is pretty darn negative as well, for various reasons. Hex has let those fester as well. You can't pin this on the forums alone.

"players" - Including PS4 and core client, maybe 1400 players? The core user base seems to be about 300, though. Kinda hard to estimate given the multiple platforms and lack of tracking across most of them. Either way, it's a rather small community and most of that is due to how the devs have handled it, rather than being due to the game's appeal itself.

"also if I was one of the many trolls" - Well, you're both behaving like a troll and siding with blatant trolls. It makes me wonder, do you even know what a troll is? It's a term taken from fishing, it's where you trail bait to attract fish. Ie, it's baiting people by presenting them enticing traps. It's all about avoiding constructive discussion to engage in antagonism, which IS what you're doing in the post I'm responding to right now, and is the whole of what the other users antagonistic to these threads have been doing. Again, proper presentation matters, and someone can't reasonably argue about someone else's presentation when theirs is worse.

"manbaby" - I feel like that's a nickname you're used to hearing for yourself, based solely off the presentation you've offered in this post. You've whined about us, thrown a fit over the situation, and completely refused to respond in a constructive, adult way to any of the points. You're making a mess without thinking of how it affects others, or without offering people the respect that mature individuals offer freely.
Or, put more simply.. noone on earth would use "Manbaby" as an insult unless they were one themselves. I mean, wow.

Cheeseburger argument is a good one. Even the worst cheeseburger has a price, so they need to drop all the free modes, and double the price for everything. People get a sense of prestige when they spend a lot, and they only value content when they need to pay for it.

Raising prices will be a good confidence booster for a positive future outlook.

I'm not quite sure what direction you're going with that, but it is worth noting that many of us have openly stated that we'd be willing to pay to unlock new content.
Likewise, if we'd paid a single lump fee for this game, we'd have left in frustration long ago- oh, wait, no, that is in fact what happened with many Kickstarters.

The format of a game really doesn't matter, the only difference is that players tend to be willing to spend more in a free-to-play game [which tends to more than make up for the players who spend little to nothing]. Given that it's mostly the paying users having issues, clearly the lack of payment barriers isn't at all relevant to the matter.

You're the hero we deserve, but not the hero we need, eh?
That said, while my own interactions haven't been entirely confrontation-free themselves (for which I apologize), us moving over to engaging in the same openly hostile attacks that those you're responding to were using is just adding fuel to the exact same fire. We can't focus on constructive points if we're focusing on baiting each other, and once that becomes what our community is, the game is thoroughly lost. Besides, if we don't intend on responding constructively, then we may as well leave these threads altogether- this really isn't the place for these kind of interactions, and they undermine the community's approach to things far more than any comments of frustration toward the developers ever could.

Feels a ton like a dying indie developer putting 100% of resources into keeping the lights on and 0% into building the business.

Its pure cash grab mode now. I think we can safely kiss goodbye any of those old promises being kept. Too bad, Hex really DID have a lot of promise. RIP and no hard feeling, I know they probably did their damnnest. Can't ask for more than that.

Communication requires conversing and interacting, not just happening to occasionally react to fringe discussion points. That's a core part of the definition of the word.
Similarly, a lie by definition requires intent and it's intensely inappropriate to make that kind of accusation.

We've talked positively about the new content, our problems are with the outlook HexEnt has toward content releases. If you can't follow that, read our posts on the matter more carefully.

Hundreds of users that have openly discussed their reasons for leaving have all left for an identical short-list of reasons. Other than the Gamefuse fiasco and the usual Steam "OMAGAWRD P2W" trolling, even the negative Steam reviews share the same sentiments. You don't *have* to understand why the majority of the game's users feel the way they do to appreciate that a significant portion of the users DO feel that way, nor should you encourage Hex to be an exclusive club only for the Elite that can handle its "hardcore design". That's not loving the game, that's loving yourself.

It's always negative because the devs never respond to us properly. We've repeatedly told them what we expect in that regard, they choose not to engage us in that way, and we're left hanging. For those who have invested extraordinary amounts of time and/or money into the game, it becomes a "Hey! Hey! Hey, are you there? Hellooooo" matter. The outright antagonism you're envisioning (versus exasperation, frustration, and disappointment) seems to be a reflection of your own antagonistic outlook. If we could improve our presentation, that's certainly a worthy consideration- but perhaps not one you can help us with.

We have explicitly elaborated the issues countless times. I have a thread in the suggestions forum right now that highlights part of it. While no other card game is as engaging as Hex, many of the THOUSANDS of CCG/TCG games out there are far better polished (and okay, yes, some are just junky Chinese-company cash grabs). While none have the ambition of Hex, most share many of Hex's design elements, as well as many offering things Hex has yet to introduce, such as raids. Hex is special, but it's not in any way unique (other than its having Mercs and Evo, really). It can't compete or survive if it keeps actively working against the vast majority of its general player base, so as to exclusively favor maybe two dozen players and cory.

I explain why the news isn't inherently good (despite having clear appealing aspects) in the thread I mentioned. Go read it. Carefully, for a change, please.

There's a huge difference between "some professionals leaving" and "most of the kickstarter backers abandoning the game with negative feelings and nearly all of the new players dropping the game near-immediately for the same reasons".

"But the amount of content keeps increasing"
Actually, the rate of content distribution has notably decreased since the release of AZ2. Prior to that, we were getting maybe three major updates a year, and the polish kept improving over time- now over a year and a half all we've gotten lackluster Siege and Merry Melee and some problematic FRA tweaks, along with some cosmetic releases. Bugs and interface issues have been spiraling out of control, the devs have completely stopped attending to foundational updates, and the whole game feels held together with bubblegum and hope. Nevermind the few regular things we were looking at to keep the game engaging- Kismet Reserve Packs, Flashback Drafts, proper Immortal or Rock support, etc- seem to have been completely abandoned in one way or another.

To those of us familiar with such things, it really looks like the developer has abandoned their ambitions for the game, in the hope of rushing out what they can until they wrap up KS promises in as shallow a way as possible, and then giving up on the game altogether. All we're asking for is for them to confirm that's not the case, address the problem of long-standing foundational issues, give us some perspective on what their current prioritizatoins are [rather than cory's perpetually nonsensical "Everything is our priority, all the time! ..except PvE, maybe." replies], and just general give an indication that they still care about the game we invested into, and care about the playerbase.
Objectively, the game is WORSE than it was before, if we're doing comparative evaluation. Updates are fewer and less significant and less relevant, stability is worse, community interaction is as bad as ever, content is being released more often in unpolished, rushed, poorly designed states. It's a hot mess.

There's a lot to enjoy- new additions, of any sort, no matter how clumsy, are good. Sets continue to be interesting, PvE continues to have cool new tweaks like the Corinth merc or new FRA cards working off old keywords. There's obviously things to love, or we wouldn't still be here.

But the things the community as a whole is invested into, the things that help with both old and new player retention, the things that improve the game and support it in being more ambitious, those are being neglected. It's like going to a McDonald's that keeps introducing new food items, but refuses to fix the problem with the bathroom never being cleaned and the employees never washing their hands and the fact that their food is arriving expired and the fact that the freezer is broken, so the parfaits and ice cream is always melted, and..

Every company juggles things, the problem is that Hex's priorities seem to be wackily fixated on the most insignificant things FIRST, rather than AFTER core issues are attended to.

The post was edited 4 times, last by Azuchi: I've discussed things amicably with Bensheiri in-game, and rephrased a couple of things to reduce hostility in tone as a response to that. I apologize for any unnecessary aggravation of the matter on my part. (May 12th 2018, 6:00pm).

I find it somewhat weird that Iconoclash, Who's the Boss and Portal Kombat are exactly carbon copies (though we don't know much about PK yet) of suggestions that were made here in the forums.

And this is a miserable thought to have. What we've been asking for is for HXE to listen to us. They rarely did. So it's worrisome when they do. And 3 times in a row? Is it a buttering up for something ... bad?. Devs listening to player suggestion should not feel that bad.

And this brings me to my second point. Hex had the time and potential to become top dog. Unlike other games, and as TCGs and MTG are Hobbies and not merely a game, which means that most players do know their shit. Why did HXE not listen to its players since the start? Who is to blame for the decisions that ruined the game's potential? Will we get a "Link's donezo manifesto" (google it if you don't know the reference) when the curtain drops? How is it that we could see the problems since 3 years ago and nothing was done?

I've always tied to climb to Cosmic each s3ason. And I've always bought 100€ worth of platinum each set release Hex is my main pastime since I got involved and I've spent about 1000 - 1200 € overall in the game. My cashout option would return me ~400€ at best and after jumping into many hoops. The sunken time/money phenomenon is, I think, the reason I can't move away, even if me mind tells me it's the sensible thing to do.

I don't know if I will buy more plat when set 10 hits. Probably yes. Because I am weak. But I shouldn't, in all honesty.

I meant not as a whole of the game state. But the amount of content keeps increasing. HEX today includes much more content with respect to HEX two years ago. Lots of tournaments, siege mode, kismet packs, constant addition to fra lootpool and many other other recent additions. That is why I said HEX is objectively in a state much better than ever before content wise. Are there a reason why it should be "subjective"?. Did the game became shallow with respect to a HEX a year ago becouse of a reason unknown to me so that it is subjective?

Because there are very few ways a game can become OBJECTIVELY better. Since a game being 'better' or having 'better content' is a subjective matter.

More != better. They have increased the rate of content delivery, true. The content the delivered is content that you like more. The content is not objectively better, because that's impossible, since it's a subjective measurement.

It's subjectively better. And by the way, I AGREE with you that it is better than it was previously. But that is still a subjective assessment. In my opinion it is better. In your opinion it is better. It is not OBJECTIVELY better.

I think that something broke between HXE and the community with PS4. It took a year of "new content" (so to speak) and gave a product that promised something that so far it's not fulfilling it main intention. So, people thinks (and probably they're right) that a lot of things that could be done earlier for the game (new AH, cosmic coins, or even PvE) were delayed by something that took so long and now seems like a waste of time. There were PvP and PvE issues in the game, and they appeared out of nowhere with something nobody asked. I understand why they did it, and I even think that with some tweaks it can actually work as intended, but maybe some users think that wasn't a good move.

From there, PvP issues are being solved at a faster speed, and I think they're on the right track. Addressing the right issues and providing the right solutions. Again, there're issues or criticism, but nothing it's set into stone and I'm sure that eventually all the things we're asking for PvP will come along. The problem with PvP is that some users feels that these solutions came too late. Honestly, against that, there's nothing else to do. I think that in internet, nothing it's old or new per-se. Hex could get another burst of fame in 6 months, 1 year, 10 years or never. It depends on a sum of factors, some depends on Hex, some just don't.

The main issue for me is PvE. PvE players are rightfully angry at the current state of the game because they feel they're getting nothing. Or what they're getting, it's also not what they wanted (Siege). The radio-silence approach that HXE has towards PvE doesn't help at all. That's why I've proposed that they should do a dev stream with what they have and show us what is AZ3, why it's taking so long and also use that time to talk with the community about the issues they're having with PvE. From there, PvE users can at least know what is happening with what they think it's an essential part of the game (or at least, what keep them playing). If a user likes what it sees, he will wait and be hyped about it. If he don't, at least you don't have him waiting and getting MORE angrier about the game, something that doesn't help anyone. Be honest to this part of the community, because I feel they deserve it.

Devstreams are useless if nobody answers questions more difficult than "What brand of clothing does Lixil wear?" I've been in plenty of PvE related devstreams and I can see, in real time, substantive questions be passed over in favor of popcorn questions so no, we don't need a devstream.

What are they going to tell you in that stream? The color of Blightbark's toothpaste maybe, at best.

I gave up asking real questions ages ago but if you want to carry that banner you can watch it happen too in real time, can't say its fun but ya know how it is - flickered flames light new candles.

Hex is a brilliant game, and imo the best PvE CCG. Its PvE content sets it way ahead of the competition(mixing races and classes like an RPG is really fun and unique for a CCG). I (and i'm sure many other players) buy a lot of PvP cards to use in PvE as building new and interesting decks is one of the most fun things about CCGs. I used to make gimpy decks and see how far i'd get them in the old FRA, then it was 'revamped' and you get destroyed if not running cookie cutter decks. As a PvE player the FRA is the closest thing we have to repeatable content and you can't even use PvE champions.

I've been waiting hopefully for coop and raids(would support guilds and bolster the community) for a long time but dont mind waiting as that would literally make hex the best coop CCG, siege mode was fun at first (not asked for as far as i'm aware?) but then I realised quickly it's a gold loss instead of gold generator and not an alternative to FRA. Honestly been wishing WoTC would do a modern remake of shandalar the old MTG game where you travel to different planes winning cards and upgrading decks in real time, but WoTC keep churning out garbage PvP games as everyone is trying to copy hearthstone.

I can understand why Hex keeps doing PvP sets as it takes a lot less time and generates cash upfront, but you can only play the current PvE content for so long before you go on a break and check the news every now and be like 'oh look, there's some kind of clash bash stone league ban cards changed for the PvP players' - good for them. In short, Hex should focus on being the best PvE CCG, that's its major strength. I think MTG arena will be the CCG of choice for PvP play going forward. (sorry, but it's true).

The problem with PvP is that some users feels that these solutions came too late.

The main issue for me is PvE. PvE players are rightfully angry at the current state of the game because they feel they're getting nothing. Or what they're getting, it's also not what they wanted (Siege). The radio-silence approach that HXE has towards PvE doesn't help at all.

tl;dr at bottom. ;P

The problem with PvP and core systems issues is that many users feel that the solutions aren't coming at all, and Hex isn't communicating with us on it or, in the rare cases where they do, it's in ambiguous, unreasonably extensive promises with not even a vague time frame attached.
With PvE, we also have lack of communication, and we have Siege implemented as a half-developed, clunky, hardcore-oriented PvP mode, rather than as any sort of PvE mode or accessible PvP mode. So now it's not catering to either play preference well. There are a ton of ways to make Siege mode work, as done in countless other games with the mode [It's basically the defacto must-have mode in small online CCGs], but Hex's approach just went in a direction that seemed to run directly against community desires. And, again, no communication on the matter, as always.

Communication has always been Hex's problem- the reason I left in Beta wasn't because the game was in bad shape (which it was), but because I didn't see the devs really communicating well on their plans. So, I thought it was never going to improve. When I came back, I was surprised with how far it had improved. As things progressed through the very well done AZ2 launch I thought, well hey, their communication and interactions with the players is all-around poor, but they seem to be progressing fine (albeit slowly) toward a better game. Cool, let's stick with this.
But they kept ignoring issues that had been lingering since the beginning. Then more core issues popped up. Then the game became an unstable mess around Set 7, and while early fixes seemed fast and responsive, that trickled down to the point where we now have bugs lingering from Set 7 that seem like they'll never be addressed (nevermind that most of them don't seem to be listed in the Known Issues, despite being well-known in the community [eg, the infrequent AI lockups] ).
Then it seemed they stopped caring about the core game at all, and started doubling down on disregarding the players. It feels like they're rushing through things and not caring about the game anymore, and that they're so out of touch that they not only more than ever have no concern over the lack of marketing, sales, and new player retention, but that they don't care about the existing playerbase anymore either.

Through all of these things, we haven't really had clear communication on any of these community-prioritized matters (as stated by @Utremeld above). I mean, there have been some better communication attempts on various things (though I could nitpick flaws in them as well) than in the past, but none of those have addressed the long-standing issues the community considers important. And again, when cory bothers giving roadmap information at all, it's usually in a dismissive, off-hand, undetailed, scammy-feeling sort of way.
We don't need exact dates, but we do want to have an idea of what priorities the devs have, and if they're paying any attention to community concerns.

We all have different priorities and expectations on where the game should go, but we all basically all want better communication and attention to issues with core mechanics and player retention. If Hex simply addressed that universal bonding element, negativity wouldn't coalesce the way it does, simply because people would no longer so reliably share the same concerns. Also, it'd just be respectable of them.

It may seem that we're overinterpreting negative perspectives in the devs at times..
But then, consider that it's been over a year and a half of waiting for recent issues to get addressed, and over four years of waiting for core issues like pvp matchmaking to be addressed. Siege is only four months old, but that still should have been plenty of time to let us know if they planned to at any point respond to community feedback on the mode. Thus, when they introduced siege sacks- something that is inherently a favorable addition to the game- and did so in a way that flagrantly dismissed concerns with the mode.. yeah, of course that's going to be the feather that broke the camel's back.

Had Hex communicated with us at any point then sure, they could have continued making their own prioritizations, dubious as they've been thus far. But seeing them add disregard in action to disregard in communication.. it feels like an insult to a player base that has put up with a lot of frustrating behaviors and questionable choices to stick with the game for so long.Though, for the sake of fair regard, we've also had a lot to appreciate over the years, even if it hasn't yet met early hopes for the game So thank you, design team. We do appreciate you, even if we're regularly left scratching our heads at management decisions.

Compare this all to Card Hunter- it's been a year since the last update, and it was a minor one. But the developer has always looked out for us and communicated with us clearly, so if he added new content, a large number of us'd rush back to buy it- out of loyalty as much as desire to play. It's hard to evaluate how much that sort of loyalty is worth in regards to profit, but the fact is, players want to give that kind of dedication to a game. HexEnt seems intent to stamp that feeling out every chance they get, intentionally or not.

he don't, at least you don't have him waiting and getting MORE angrier about the game, something that doesn't help anyone. Be honest to this part of the community, because I feel they deserve it.

I feel like hex is ahead of the other ccgs right now or dead even in the race. They are listening you can tell and paying attention to feedback. I have high hopes for the future of this game and maybe all they need is some more money coming in to help give them a boost. This game has the potential to destroy the others if it worked on tablets and phones with the past promises. I don't care much for raids and all that but even 2v2 would probably increase the player count dramatically. Who doesn't want to play a tcg with a buddy on your side while drinking a beer ? Really I would love to see more formats for casual and 2v2.

Where did that Sony advertisement money go? I don't know where else to post this, but fuck I'm curious.

Another game probably. Sony has so many games in their system that they can just throw money on the game they feel like it can be big.

No, Hex received money from Sony earmarked for advertisement and they spent a portion of it supposedly on their trailer which is still hot shit and a lot of reused assets that sell Hex about as well as the PS4 store description (which is to say, not at all.) Are we going to wait to release that and advertisment for when Hex is in better shape? If so, lord I hope we live that long.

Did you heard it somewhere from Hex official? Like in the devstream or something? I am very skeptical that they do receive money from Sony and the ads are on them based on their past behaviors. Hex Ent has been rushing things out ver since the hyper-delay of Set 4. Ever since then, Hex Ent has the tendency to rush things out then fix them later, be it Set release(with amount of bugs that would make any insectologist happy) or PS4 release. They are obviously all-in in the PS4 plan ever since they decide to make the decision to go into PS4. I feel that the fall of popularity in PS4 in the current state would force their hand and make them splash their ads money if they could, they just don't have full right to those money.

Also, in the few posts that the officials have mentioned "Sony ads money", they talk like they have to get Sony's agreement before they can use them, like they keep talking about "how they want the game to be at a better place, discussed with Sony bla bla bla". If Hex Ent itself is making the decision, I don't see them do that. They are going to splash them right now to keep the PS4 momentum going and see how it goes later. It's the same thing as they are trying to get worldwide PS4 release on September but they are forced to delay on other regions due to Sony's non-approval. I feel the same for ads money.

I feel like hex is ahead of the other ccgs right now or dead even in the race.

Sure! Other than in terms of polish, communication, and outlook for the future.

They are listening you can tell and paying attention to feedback.

The entire issue we're having is that we can't tell that.

I have high hopes for the future of this game and maybe all they need is some more money coming in to help give them a boost.

Then maybe they should think about actually trying to retain players? Nevermind that I've been asking for them to reintroduce Steam sales for months (they stopped with Herofall) so that I COULD give them money [I never buy direct currency in games, but I obsessively buy DLC packs], and so far, no-go.
Encouraging money inflow seems to be the antithesis of what their approach is aiming for.

This game has the potential to destroy the others if

Potential is something the game has never remotely been lacking. We're just a bit exhausted with them leaving that if so long unattended.

I don't care much for raids and all that

They're exceptionally popular in other online CCGs that have them. Adding them to a TCG would truly make Hex stand out- though as long as Hex has taken to implement them, they've slowly lost the edge on that. More and more games are picking up similar multiplayer concepts. Thankfully, thus far official MtG games have continued to be lackluster and other games have gone in other directions, but the longer Hex lets things linger, the less they'll stand out.

I can understand why Hex keeps doing PvP sets as it takes a lot less time and generates cash upfront, but you can only play the current PvE content for so long before you go on a break and check the news every now and be like 'oh look, there's some kind of clash bash stone league ban cards changed for the PvP players' - good for them. In short, Hex should focus on being the best PvE CCG, that's its major strength. I think MTG arena will be the CCG of choice for PvP play going forward. (sorry, but it's true).

Many of us have stated a willingness to pay for PvE content updates [presumably with them being free to Kickstarters, though KSers have also said that they'd even be willing to pay to unlock new content], if that's what it takes to prioritize them. But no matter what we say to HexEnt, they never seem to change their marketing approach in any way, even when it's clear that discontent over all the various modes [excepting Evo and Draft] is dominant.

Hex's approach isn't working, and it's hurting a once-loyal fanbase. Moreover, they're ignoring solid advice for improvement, without any indication of why they're doing so, or offering any sort of alternative plans of their own [other than, apparently, add more gimmicks (which presumably will lose all support quite quickly as well, as per historic trend) ].

Hex needs to learn to chill and focus on completing one thing, before adding another. And they need to learn to communicate with us.
That's all- the inherent charm of the game and rich creativity of the design team should be enough to carry the game after that.

Where did that Sony advertisement money go? I don't know where else to post this, but fuck I'm curious.

Another game probably. Sony has so many games in their system that they can just throw money on the game they feel like it can be big.

No, Hex received money from Sony earmarked for advertisement and they spent a portion of it supposedly on their trailer which is still hot shit and a lot of reused assets that sell Hex about as well as the PS4 store description (which is to say, not at all.) Are we going to wait to release that and advertisment for when Hex is in better shape? If so, lord I hope we live that long.

Did you heard it somewhere from Hex official? Like in the devstream or something? I am very skeptical that they do receive money from Sony and the ads are on them based on their past behaviors. Hex Ent has been rushing things out ver since the hyper-delay of Set 4. Ever since then, Hex Ent has the tendency to rush things out then fix them later, be it Set release(with amount of bugs that would make any insectologist happy) or PS4 release. They are obviously all-in in the PS4 plan ever since they decide to make the decision to go into PS4. I feel that the fall of popularity in PS4 in the current state would force their hand and make them splash their ads money if they could, they just don't have full right to those money.
Also, in the few posts that the officials have mentioned "Sony ads money", they talk like they have to get Sony's agreement before they can use them, like they keep talking about "how they want the game to be at a better place, discussed with Sony bla bla bla". If Hex Ent itself is making the decision, I don't see them do that. They are going to splash them right now to keep the PS4 momentum going and see how it goes later. It's the same thing as they are trying to get worldwide PS4 release on September but they are forced to delay on other regions due to Sony's non-approval. I feel the same for ads money.

I am interested to hear your take.

Reg. Sony's help with marketing, two scenarios:

1. (Most likely) The deal would never have been "Create the port and we will do the marketing / give you money for marketing". It was "Create the port and if <insert condition(s)> we will do the marketing / give you the money for marketing". The condition was most probably something about the quality of the port or its initial reception. Then HXE jumped the gun and acted as if it was a sure conclusion that everything would be fine.

2. I am willing to accept that this could have been the first (and oonly, as of now) straight up lie we were told.

My own feelings :
- from alpha to AZ2, I was patient
- when AZ2 was released, I was very optimistic, I though the game was ready to skyrocket
- one year later, as nothing that really matters was released, and nothing was on the road map, a red flag was set in my mind
- from that point, I have seen the mood declining on the forum
- now, it's like we have just reached the tipping point and everything is spiraling down (bad numbers, loss of faith, old guard giving up, silence...)

This kind of adventure/business relies on trust. When trust is starting to vanish, it's the start of the end. The sucess and the failure are snowbowling, I don't believe there could be a plateau followed by a second blossoming.

So, very negative.

What I see is a terrible lack of focus from Hexent. All they have invested in since AZ2 puzzled me :
- PS4 ? Playing with a pad ? Only PvP ?? Separated accounts ???
- FRA2 ? Why creating PvE you can't play with your characters ? Why destroying content people loved to replace it instead of just adding content ?
- Siege ? Why another system that would need years of development to become really interesting ?
- to be honest, even in AZ2, there were new systems (boat deck) that probably cost a lot to code and that were not reused after.

I can't see a plan here and Hexent silence doesn't help.

Silence.

What should I deduct from silence ?

Cash burn? Technical dead end? No B plan? No more A plan either?

The Hex community has invested so much time and money in the game that I think they deserved information about all aspects of the game, even technical aspects.

This is a good lesson for me. I won't invest in another game if they don't have open practices.

Merry Melee is EXACTLY what I wish hex should have had long ago. I am a little meh-ish towards the EV of the format (not sure how good ev random standard cards are, but they do sure as **** not get close to the value of a pack), but it is understandable as it does not require any form of product to join so I am fine with it as tournaments are not a charity, and Corinth is a format I find fun enough to play even with only slightly positive EV because it is so fun!

The other changes are truly sweet ways to sweeten the deal for playing PvP modes after reaching cosmic. Good job on that!

Overall I personally feel the game is in a great spot for me personally as a fan of TCGs, and especially ones rewarding player skill. But I can still see hex being in a bad spot for casual players, which is a gigantic market. Hex has taken some measurements to cater to those with Rock and Merry Melee, we will see with time if this is enough.

How about the next poll is made in order to ask players if they'd give money to a Kickstarter with the goal to buy the game from HXE. Since players have always been thinking they can do better than the current devs and all.

The post was edited 1 time, last by Vroengard: Don't Like this post, it's obviously a joke. I doubt we have enough people with business experience to build a company. At most we are excellent at knowing what players want. (May 13th 2018, 2:40pm).

What I see is a terrible lack of focus from Hexent. All they have invested in since AZ2 puzzled me :
- PS4 ? Playing with a pad ? Only PvP ?? Separated accounts ???
- FRA2 ? Why creating PvE you can't play with your characters ? Why destroying content people loved to replace it instead of just adding content ?
- Siege ? Why another system that would need years of development to become really interesting ?
- to be honest, even in AZ2, there were new systems (boat deck) that probably cost a lot to code and that were not reused after.

Worth noting that the Separated Accounts bit seems to be something required by Sony. As far as the "why", HexEnt seems to have wanted to quickly boost the playerbase (and presumably profits). Unfortunately, they rushed that, and did so in direct disregard of community sentiments that the retention issues should be fixed before inviting in new players. Once chat started getting a handful of cosmic players openly bragging about how many PS4 players they'd farmed while at Cosmic, I think that's when the community really started getting exhausted with HexEnt's approach.

FRA is a good change of pace, and there are good elements to the changes they keep making. The problem is they're ignoring that most of the (vocal) players seem to prefer a steady incline of difficulty rather than "Junky Tier 1 or Batshit-Random Tiers 2 - 4", and the recent boosts they made to some AIs (that they claimed would be nerfs) and the potent new bosses they added, mean that FRA feels more luck-based than ever.
And, honestly, that seems intentional- it seems like that's how the devs want the mode to be. Less a scaling randomized dungeon, and more a truly randomized dungeon. Which is fine, in a sense, but it means they tore out the accessible pve we had in FRA before now. Which feels rather unnecessary, given alternative routes they could have taken with it. So it's less that the changes were bad, and more that they were restricting to what players could do, without offering anything to make up for that fact.
AZ2 is the same way- we used to be able to fairly freely farm any part of AZ1; since AZ2 came out, we're restricted to farming just two dungeons, since they're far more efficient. We've been asking for some kind of mechanic to make hitting old dungeons worthwhile, but so far nothing has come of it.

Siege was a Kickstarter promise. Its introduction isn't a problem in any way. The problem is that everything already in the game feels abandoned-with-lingering-issues, and their approach to Siege thus far indicates it'll be treated similarly. With even sideline elements like Kismet Reserve and Flashback Drafts being added and then abandoned, it feels like these new cosmetic additions will be the same thing: "Here's a quick something to make you diehards feel attended to. Now let us go back to rushing out Kickstarter promised features in a checkbox-marking way."
The problem is that HexEnt has had a reliable trend of seemingly abandoning things once they've basic stablity (or only updating them in ways that- despite any good that may occur- further make the game feel inaccessible and awkward). Now that they're approaching lingering Kickstarter promises in the same way, and focusing on adding more sideline elements rather than addressing core issues, it just.. gives a weird impression, given the lack of communication on the matter.

I'm pretty surprised there wasn't an Endless Boat mode. I think most of us were expecting there to be one, once sea nodes were announced with AZ2.

What I see is a terrible lack of focus from Hexent. All they have invested in since AZ2 puzzled me :
- PS4 ? Playing with a pad ? Only PvP ?? Separated accounts ???
- FRA2 ? Why creating PvE you can't play with your characters ? Why destroying content people loved to replace it instead of just adding content ?
- Siege ? Why another system that would need years of development to become really interesting ?
- to be honest, even in AZ2, there were new systems (boat deck) that probably cost a lot to code and that were not reused after.

Worth noting that the Separated Accounts bit seems to be something required by Sony. As far as the "why", HexEnt seems to have wanted to quickly boost the playerbase (and presumably profits). Unfortunately, they rushed that, and did so in direct disregard of community sentiments that the retention issues should be fixed before inviting in new players. Once chat started getting a handful of cosmic players openly bragging about how many PS4 players they'd farmed while at Cosmic, I think that's when the community really started getting exhausted with HexEnt's approach.
FRA is a good change of pace, and there are good elements to the changes they keep making. The problem is they're ignoring that most of the (vocal) players seem to prefer a steady incline of difficulty rather than "Junky Tier 1 or Batshit-Random Tiers 2 - 4", and the recent boosts they made to some AIs (that they claimed would be nerfs) and the potent new bosses they added, mean that FRA feels more luck-based than ever.
And, honestly, that seems intentional- it seems like that's how the devs want the mode to be. Less a scaling randomized dungeon, and more a truly randomized dungeon. Which is fine, in a sense, but it means they tore out the accessible pve we had in FRA before now. Which feels rather unnecessary, given alternative routes they could have taken with it. So it's less that the changes were bad, and more that they were restricting to what players could do, without offering anything to make up for that fact.
AZ2 is the same way- we used to be able to fairly freely farm any part of AZ1; since AZ2 came out, we're restricted to farming just two dungeons, since they're far more efficient. We've been asking for some kind of mechanic to make hitting old dungeons worthwhile, but so far nothing has come of it.

Siege was a Kickstarter promise. Its introduction isn't a problem in any way. The problem is that everything already in the game feels abandoned-with-lingering-issues, and their approach to Siege thus far indicates it'll be treated similarly. With even sideline elements like Kismet Reserve and Flashback Drafts being added and then abandoned, it feels like these new cosmetic additions will be the same thing: "Here's a quick something to make you diehards feel attended to. Now let us go back to rushing out Kickstarter promised features in a checkbox-marking way."
The problem is that HexEnt has had a reliable trend of seemingly abandoning things once they've basic stablity (or only updating them in ways that- despite any good that may occur- further make the game feel inaccessible and awkward). Now that they're approaching lingering Kickstarter promises in the same way, and focusing on adding more sideline elements rather than addressing core issues, it just.. gives a weird impression, given the lack of communication on the matter.

I'm pretty surprised there wasn't an Endless Boat mode. I think most of us were expecting there to be one, once sea nodes were announced with AZ2.

As far as I am aware Siege isn't something that the community asked for nor was it listed in the kickstarter but rather something the devs just added?

How about the next poll is made in order to ask players if they'd give money to a Kickstarter with the goal to buy the game from HXE. Since players have always been thinking they can do better than the current devs and all.

It may be a joke, but handing HEX over to a dev team like DE's (Warframe) would probably solve a ton of issues. DE is extremely good at handling player feedback and communicating, which are HXE's greatest weaknesses.